Merry & Bright

This is a long one....  I decided to just do a single Christmas post instead of one for each "event," so feel free to just scroll through the pics if you want!

December was crazy busy for us and I was fighting off some kind of virus for the majority of the month, but we still managed to enjoy the holidays as much as we could.  Our last Christmas as a family of 3!

This year Ethan LOVED Santa, and Tommy the elf, and Christmas lights, and reindeer, and baby Jesus!  He was SO completely in the Christmas spirit!  It was infectious, really. 

We got Christmas off to a start by visiting the iconic Trail of Lights in Austin.  I'm still not sure if that was the best idea or if we will do it again.  It took us two hours just to get there with the crazy traffic and by that time it was after 8pm and Ethan was getting tired.  We went through the lights rather quickly, stopped for some taffy at Candy Land (three times actually... I think that was the highlight for Ethan), had a funnel cake and then headed back to the car.  We didn't get home until almost 11!  I was mostly worried how Ethan would do since he had only been potty trained for about a month, but we had no accidents.  And he got to use a port-a-potty for the first time- Oh Joy! :)  Lucky for me, Troy took him, and lucky for both of us little boys can pee standing up and not have to touch a thing!  (I dread having to take the baby girl into one of those nasty things one day.)

We also visited Santa at the mall a couple of times.  One impromptu trip when we were there before Thanksgiving and Santa was just hanging out with no visitors, and one intentional trip for pictures.  Ethan went right up to Santa and when asked what he wanted for Christmas, he said "a really big present, a blue one."  It just so happened he got a really big present from Santa... but it was not blue.  What a difference a year can make... last year the only way he would go near Santa is with me holding him!

This year we also had intentions of starting a family tradition of going to the Christmas Tree farm in Elgin and cutting down a small tree to put in the playroom for Ethan to decorate.  Well every weekend that we were free the weather was bad, so we ended up just picking out a "small" tree from Lowe's.  Really it was about 5 feet tall, so I guess it wasn't that small.  In fact Ethan said it was really, really big!  We let him decorate the tree with some non-breakable ornaments and candy canes.  Most people decorate their tree and leave it that way, but not Ethan.  Almost every day he was in there rearranging ornaments (which he calls "instruments")!  I think he must have thought the tree was something like his play felt tree or his tiny advent tree that he decorates, un-decorates, and re-decorates every day. 

The weekend before Christmas, we had fun decorating a Gingerbread house that my boss had given me as a Christmas gift.  I helped spread the icing and Ethan arranged the candy.  He ate a fair share of it while he was decorating, but a decent amount did make it onto the house.  We are actually still eating on this thing.. and it is still super tasty!

This year we had a few special visitors for Christmas.  Gabby & Peepaw sold their house in Murphy and moved to the Hill Country!  We are so blessed to have family close by now!!  While they looked for a house here in Austin, they stayed with us so we got to enjoy their company over the holiday break.  We also had a little elf arrive on December 1st to spend Christmas with us.  Ethan named him Tommy...  Well, actually he wanted to name him Tom (after our neighbor who had recently spent a few days over here staining our fence), but we settled on Tommy being a more fitting name for an elf.  Tommy quickly secured a special place in Ethan's heart, and thanks to Gabby he now has some Tommy PJs that he wears to remember Tommy until he returns next Christmas!

On Christmas morning we woke up and opened gifts at home with Gabby & Peepaw.  Troy got a(nother) new computer, I got an ipad, and Ethan got a rocket ship play tent, a roller coaster, puzzles, games, a big fire truck, a stick horse, and the list goes on!

 

Then the weekend after Christmas we drove up to Dallas to celebrate Christmas with Memaw, Papaw and Aunt Cindy on Saturday, and the Ferrell/Hughs/Mason/Park clan on Sunday.  Ethan enjoyed playing with new doggies and sleeping in a really big bed at Aunt Cindy's house, and had fun playing with his cousins on Sunday at Aunt Sherrie's.  His favorite toys from the weekend are surely the bath ferry boat and the super sized fire truck puzzle!  Even baby sister got a few gifts.  And shame on me, but I did not take a single picture the entire weekend :(

Our final Christmas celebration was with the Matuses in Spring the weekend before last.  Ethan had a great time playing with Dominik and Anthony, and enjoyed petting/chasing/admiring Grandma & Grandpa's neighbor's cat called Abby!  This boy is an animal lover, no doubt!  He loves the little barking puppy he got, the giant dinosaur puzzle, and the Clifford LeapPad game cartridge.  He is not spoiled at all... simply very well loved! :)

Thank you everyone for the generous gifts!  We enjoyed the time with family and appreciate all of you for hosting us!

T Minus 8 Weeks

We are at 32 weeks!  How is that possible?!?!  This pregnancy is going by so fast... too fast, really.  And this baby girl is SO active, just like her brother was (remember we called him Squirmy Matus!)

We are making slow progress, but progress nonetheless, preparing for our little girl's arrival in 8 weeks.  I've washed some clothes, blankets, sheets and burp clothes and put them in her closet, Troy put the crib back together and we arranged the furniture in her room, we bought a few boxes of diapers to get us started, and I've made an overwhelmingly long list of to-dos.  At least now all of the things in her room are hers... it is no longer a storage locker!  Now I sure hope that ultrasound technician was right, and this baby really is a GIRL :)

Ethan tells us everyday about all the things he is going to teach and share with his baby sister.  He is such a good big brother already!  I just hope he is this eager to help and teach once she is actually here!  Today he told us he was going to show his baby sister his funny joke of hanging his dinosaur upside down from its tail on the bookshelf, and he is going to share his bubble bath with her when she is bigger, and he is going to show her the little sticker he got from school today (I asked him if he was still going to have that sticker when she gets here in March and he said yes, but she will have to be bigger to get stickers. LOL!) Such a sweet, sweet boy!

I'm going to the doctor every 2 weeks now, and my last appointment was Monday.  Everything continues to go smoothly and we are both doing well!  My next doctor appointment will be February 4th.  This time we also hired a doula to provide labor support, and I just love her!  She is a massage therapist and yoga instructor as well, plus her name is Summer! :)  I see her about every 2 weeks for a massage and to discuss any aches, concerns, etc. and it is so nice!

Here are few pictures of my growing belly and one sweet profile pic of our baby girl from the 20 week sonogram.  We will get to sneak one last peek of her again in just a few weeks on February 18th!

BIG boy bed!

So... I'm playing catch up again.  No surprise there! :)

The weekend before Thanksgiving we moved Ethan from his toddler bed to a twin bed so that we could put the crib back together and move it to his baby sister's room.  We got him some new outer space bedding with stars and planets and he loved it.  He never stayed under the covers in his toddler bed so we weren't sure how he would do in between covers that were tucked in on the sides but he got the hang of it right away.  He had no trouble at all adjusting and enjoyed all the extra space he had for all his many animal friends!  Every night we blast off to space as he counts down from 10... once the light is off we all "ooh and aahh" over the many stars and planets glowing in the dark.  He loves all things about space! 

Here are a few pictures of our big boy in his new big bed...

Sweet Dreams xoxo

He or She? Open to See!

Last week at our ultrasound the technician gave us a scare because the first time she attempted to check the gender of our little sweetie he/she had their legs closed tight.  A slight panic set in as I told her we had a party planned for the weekend to reveal the gender.  She said she would get it before we left, and indeed she did!  She wrote it down for us in a little card that I made, included a picture and sealed it up.  We left the doctor's office and took it immediately to our cake lady so as to not be tempted to peek!  Let me tell you... it's been a long couple of days since Wednesday.

Yesterday we were so excited to host family and friends to celebrate this newest blessing and learn whether our little sweetie is a boy or a girl!  I am so incredibly glad we decided to learn (and share) the news with a Gender Reveal Party.  It was SO MUCH fun and the memories from this get together we will cherish forever! 

The focus of the party was of course the cake, which was a beautiful and delicious pumpkin caramel pecan cake, with a little blue or pink "gift package" on top!

The weather, company and surprise could not have been sweeter!  Thank you so much to everyone who came to celebrate with us, you will never know how much it meant to have all of you here!!! Now, for a replay of the BIG reveal... drum roll please!

Video of the big reveal!!!

 The blue and pink spread

 Team "Blue"

Team "Pink"

 PINK cake!!!

 It's a GIRL!  We are on cloud 9!

 Me & my Momma :)

Me & Paula

Happy Halloween!!!

This year when I asked Ethan what he wanted to be for Halloween, he told me an "ant."  I'm guessing this was because he had been bitten by an ant a few days prior and ants must've been on his mind :)  Since I wasn't sure how to make an ant costume, I asked him again a few days later what he wanted to be.  This time he told me a "star."  I think this was because we were sitting in his room and he has glow in the dark stars on his ceiling.  Again, I wasn't sure how to dress him as a star, so I waited a few more days and asked him again.  This time he told me he wanted to be "robot."  The third times a charm... finally, something I could work with!  He has a book called "Here Comes Halloween" and in the book, one of the costumes the little boy tries on is a robot so I am guessing where that came from. 

In any case, he liked his costume pretty much up until last week.  Then on Tuesday, when he was supposed to wear it to gymnastics he did not want to.  He ended up going in just the body suit.  Then on Wednesday we took him to a Halloween party at work, and we had to bribe him with a Starburst to put it on.  Even then he left the hat on for all of 5 minutes.  On Friday for school, he was again opposed to wearing it so I dropped him off in just the body suit.  I was thrilled to see him wearing the full thing when I got to the school to watch the "parade" and he was soooo excited to see me there!  I am incredibly blessed and so thankful to Troy for the opportunity to work only part-time so that I can enjoy these special moments with our special boy <3

 Ms. Maria & Ethan led the class in the parade

 Ethan was HAPPY to see Mommy!!

 Watching the other kids in the parade

 Jr. Preschool Class Picture

 Enjoying snacks at his class Halloween Party

Friday night after eating a jack-o-lantern pizza, we suited up and headed out to meet up with some neighborhood friends for an evening of trick-or-treating!  He was much less resistant to put on his costume this time because he knew he was going to get candy!!!  The weather was nice and cool and it was a fun evening with friends.  Ethan and Bennett (spider) were especially excited to get candy as they raced up to each house, knocked (each of them), rang the doorbell (each of them) and shouted trick-or-treat! It is a good thing they are so cute or people might have been bothered by their barrage.  We were out for 2 hours and when we came home, his first pick was the biggest lollipop in the bag.  Did I mention, at every house he requested lollipops?  I tried telling him chocolate was better than lollipops and he just said "ok" :)

 Cutest lil robot EVER!

 Heading out on the trike! (Smart boy, used his handle bars to carry his candy satchel)

 Neighborhood buds: Ethan, Bennett & Micah

Family pic!  We should've taken it before it was so dark :/

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Last weekend we went to the Sweet Berry Farm pumpkin patch!  This place is always so much fun and the pumpkin ice cream is delicious!  I can not believe we have been 3 times now with little Ethan!!!  This year it most certainly did not feel like fall as the temps crept up into the 90s, but it was a great time none the less.  We pained a pumpkin, took a hayride, enjoyed a picnic, and fed the goats.  The goats are by far Ethan's favorite! It's hard to believe that when we go next year, we will have another little one in our family picture! :)

Happy Fall Y'all!

BIG BRO

As most of you know by now, Ethan is going to be a BIG brother! I found out on July 14th and shared the news with Troy on the 15th with this little note and some blue and pink balloons.

At some point I will get a good picture of Ethan in his BIG BRO shirt but that day has not yet come!  I do have this one though, of Ethan and his cousins Dominik & Anthony, from our trip to Spring a few months ago to share the news.

The Saturday after we found out we already had plans for date night at The Melting Pot, but it was extra special since we were able to celebrate our growing family!  Even more so because the day we found out we were expecting with Ethan we also had reservations at this restaurant to celebrate Valentine's Day!  Now we have celebrated baby news twice at the exact same place... unintentionally! So special how that worked out!  And, it just so happened that our fondue forks were pink and blue! :)

We had our first doctor appointment on August 6th and were told that our due date would be March 17th (St. Patty's day!)  We were 8 weeks along!

Our second appointment was on September 3rd and I was 12 weeks along.  At that appointment, we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time and recorded it to share!  His/her heartbeat was perfect and 165 beats per minute.  I just love listening to the woosh of this little heart, and Ethan grins ear to ear every time he hears it as well!

That same week we had our first trimester screening done and were able to see how much our little one had grown since our first appointment at 8 weeks.  Seeing our little one moving around in the womb is just such a special moment!  Every.Single.Time!  The results from the screening were great and we are at the lowest level of risk for any type of genetic abnormalities. 

 We had two more check-ups on October 1st (16 weeks) and October 27th (20 weeks).  Baby's heartbeat was in the 140s at both of those appointments which is normal and we received good reports for our health.  This past Wednesday we had our second trimester anatomy screening done and got to see our precious little one again!  We were so relieved to hear that this baby is developing perfectly, with absolutely no health concerns at all.  I was a bit nervous since this is the ultrasound appointment that detected the choroid plexus cyst with Ethan, but all is well! 

Also, just a quick disclaimer... We have not yet posted our exciting baby news on Facebook, so please keep that in mind and only share our news in person with friends and loved ones for now!  Soon I plan to make a Facebook announcement and at that point you can feel free to share that post or this one!  XOXO